“There’s nothing out there. Not for a long way anyway. Ahead is nothing but blackness. As I transmit these words I believe I am the furthest any human has ever traveled from Sol.”
CMDR Persera is presently drifting within the inky-black void past the sting of the Elite Dangerous galaxy, round 11 mild years previous essentially the most distant star and round 65,650 mild years from our Solar System. And it was all in an try and drop off some mugs.
Elite Dangerous’ gamers have been finding out the Thargoids, here’s what they’ve found.
“Far Out Mugs – Send your mug to the Beyond!” stated the advert within the Hutton Orbital house station. “Send a personalized Hutton Mug out to the furthest reaches of human explored space. This is an opportunity unlike any other… Pilot Wanted – Think you have what it takes to brave the beyond? Contact The Hutton Orbital Tourism Bureau.”
The Hutton Mug is an notorious uncommon commodity in Elite Dangerous. Only obtainable at Hutton Orbital, an area station that’s notorious for orbiting at an enormous distance (zero.22 mild years) from its mother or father star, the mugs are apparently “made from the salvaged frame shift drive plates of ships that ran out of fuel before reaching the station”.
The plan was easy – take a batch of customized Hutton Mugs, emblazoned with pictures and messages from varied Commanders, and drop them off past Beagle Point, some of the distant star programs within the galaxy. It was a foolhardy, logistically tough and doubtlessly harmful mission, with the only real intention of depositing human-made objects within the depths of intergalactic house for the sheer hell of it. Essentially, it was house littering. But CMDR Persera was excited on the prospect of travelling additional than anybody had ever gone earlier than on the planet of Elite Dangerous – she signed up right away.
The first try didn’t go nicely. After already having to double again to get extra gas, CMDR Persera bumped into pirates and misplaced her ship alongside along with her total cargo of Hutton Mugs. Luckily, on her return to Hutton Orbital, she discovered that there have been back-ups of all of the messages, and one other batch of customized Hutton Mugs was made prepared. So after shopping for a brand new ship and stripping again all of the programs to maximise gas financial system, she set out once more.
Into the black
The route out to Beagle Point has been pretty nicely explored, and CMDR Persera had little downside performing hyperspace jumps from one neutron star to a different, scooping up hydrogen gas from every star as she went. But quickly she was previous Beagle Point, and there was only one star between her and the empty void – Semotus Beacon. Past this star, she would not be capable of carry out hyperspace jumps, which require a star to lock on to. Instead, she’d need to depend on ‘supercruising’ – basically, driving in guide.
After 21 hours of supercruising, she was additional out than anybody had ever been earlier than. But she determined to maintain going. She labored out that she might keep it up for an additional day and nonetheless have sufficient gas to make a soar again to Semotus Beacon.
But she was mistaken. After 48 hours, her tank was operating on empty, and she or he ready to drop off the mugs and switch round. But her calculations have been off – there wasn’t sufficient juice to make the hyperspace leap. She was caught in the midst of the void, with little possibility however to self-destruct her ship – and reset her progress.
“If anyone can save you, it’s the Fuel Rats.” – CMDR Alec Turner
Yet there was one glimmer of hope: The Fuel Rats. This group of hundreds of Elite veterans operates as a form of free house emergency service – any commander who finds themselves stranded with out gas can request a rescue from the Rats, who will usually go to nice lengths to achieve them. The Rats stated they have been prepared to assist – however this could be the hardest mission they’d ever confronted.
“There was a great deal of planning by a number of the Fuel Rats Mischief [head council] to ensure that we were properly equipped and fuelled to complete the rescue successfully and safely,” says CMDR Highwaywarrior, certainly one of a staff of three Rats who signed as much as mount the rescue. But even getting wherever close to CMDR Persera’s location will probably be a problem.
“I was five thousand light years the wrong side of Colonia when this call came in,” says CMDR Highwaywarrior. Colonia is 22,000 mild years from human house, and some of the distant programs with an area station. “In total it took me 20 hours of solid flying time to get to her system. We are currently in day three of this rescue mission and we’ll probably be breaking into the start of day five by the time the rescue is completed. We will have been flying solidly for that time.”
Two different Fuel Rats are becoming a member of CMDR Highwaywarrior for what’s been dubbed ‘Operation Beyond the Void’: CMDR TheUnkn0wn1 and CMDR ABish. “CMDR TheUnkn0wn1 had to do a refit at Colonia to remove some modules and equip additional fuel tanks specifically for this mission,” says CMDR Highwaywarrior. Between them, they reckon they’ve sufficient extra gas to get everybody again to the Beacon safely. “We will arrive simultaneously at CMDR Persera’s location and as a team we will provide her with the fuel she needs to make a jump to the nearest scoopable star, and then ensure that each Fuel Rat has enough fuel to do the same. In the event that an unforeseen problem arises we are prepared that one of us may not make the return journey – a fact of life as a Fuel Rat.”
But one miscalculation might imply that there will probably be 4 pilots stranded in deep house, fairly than only one. And all for the sake of some memento mugs.
Home in time for Christmas
“At the moment we have spent 29 hours in supercruise and are not yet at the halfway point to her,” says CMDR Highwaywarrior. “When we arrived in her system she was 11 mild years from the principle star. We at the moment are 5.78 mild years from her place. The precise rescue itself should be coordinated nearer the time, as there are three totally different time zones concerned between the Fuel Rats and CMDR Persera! I’ll preserve posting updates on this on my Twitter feed however the actuality is that the rendezvous will happen very late on Christmas Eve I believe.”
In the meantime, CMDR Persera is having to maintain logged out of the sport as a lot as potential to protect her ship’s dwindling energy – it it runs out of juice fully, the life help programs will shut down. But she has been logging on each couple of hours to broadcast a beacon to the incoming rescue ships – the one manner that The Fuel Rats will be capable of discover her within the void.
It’s tense stuff.
CMDR TheUnkn0wn1 is live streaming the rescue attempt on Twitch if you wish to sustain with the motion. Admittedly, the ‘action’ is usually simply black nothing in the meanwhile – however come Christmas Eve, there’ll (hopefully) be one very relieved house explorer.
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